The Iran Uae Gulf Islands Dispute

The Gulf Islands Dispute offers an international law analysis of the conflict between Iran and the UAE over ownership of three Gulf islands. The conclusions reached are based on centuries of Gulf history and challenge the positions of both parties.

Unresolved territorial disputes have historically raised tensions between nations, often leading to regional destabilization and international repercussions. The issue of the three occupied UAE islands – the Greater and Lesser Tunbs and Abu Musa – deserves particular attention because it threatens to undermine regional security and has potential global implications. Given the commanding position of the islands over the major shipping lanes of the Arabian Gulf and their strategic location in the vicinity of important offshore oilfields, the continuing Iranian occupation of these key islands is undoubtedly a matter of international concern. By documenting the historical record and examining the relevant international precedents, this comprehensive study highlights and reinforces the legal and sovereign rights of the United Arab Emirates over the three islands. The study is supported by extensive and meticulous research based on both primary and secondary sources: declassified British and US archival records and original historical documents, relevant legal studies, memoirs of important personalities, interviews with key players and analyses by political commentators. In keeping with the UAE’s policy of seeking a just and peaceful resolution to this dispute, this book aims to promote a better understanding of its complexities by offering fresh insight on the historical, political, legal, regional and international dimensions of the islands issue for the benefit of policy makers, academics, researchers and decision makers concerned with the future security and stability of the Gulf region.

"Small Islands, Big Politics examines a territorial dispute between Iran and the United Arab Emirates over the ownership and control of the Tonbs, three small islands in the Persian Gulf overlooking the strategic Strait of Hormuz. Since 1971, the year British colonialism withdrew from the region, Iran has regained full sovereignty over the Tonbs and has accommodated the UAE in the administration of Abu Musa. Small Islands, Big Politics provides a close reading of the legal and relevant territorial-historical dimensions of the dispute and dissects the intricacies of international law and its application to other territorial disputes in the region. Small Islands, Big Politics is the first book-length analysis of the issue in the English language and will be indispensable reading for anyone interested in Middle East/Persian Gulf politics, history, and international studies. The book also includes a comprehensive bibliography and key documents relating to the issues."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The position of the Persian Gulf as the main highway between East and West has long given this region special significance both within the Middle East and in global affairs more generally. This book examines the history of international relations in the Gulf since the 1820s as great powers such as Britain and the US, and regional powers such as Iran and Iraq, vied for supremacy over this geopolitically vital region. It focuses on the struggle for control over the islands of the Gulf, in particular the three islands of Abu Musa, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb – an issue that remains highly contentious today. It describes how for 170 years Britain eroded Iranian influence in the Gulf, both directly by asserting colonial rule over Iranian islands and port districts, and also through claiming Iranian islands for their protégés on the Arab littoral. It shows how, after Britain's withdrawal, these islands became a pawn in the animosity and conflict that pitted, at one time, Arab radicals and nationalists against monarchical Iran, and, later, the conservative-moderate Arab camp against Islamic Iran. It goes on to explore the impact of the rise of American power in the Gulf since the start of the 1990s, its policy of containment of Iran and Iraq, and how this has provided encouragement to the ambitions of the Persian Gulf Arab littoral states, especially the UAE, towards the islands of the Gulf.

Unresolved territorial disputes have historically raised tensions between nations, often leading to regional destabilization and international repercussions. The issue of the three occupied UAE islands in the Persian Gulf - the Greater and Lesser Tunbs and Abu Musa - deserves particular attention because it threatens to undermine regional security and has potential global implications. Given the commanding position of the islands over the major shipping lanes of the Gulf and their strategic location in the vicinity of important offshore oilfields, the continuing Iranian occupation of these key islands is a matter of both regional and broader international concern. Documenting the historical record and examining the relevant international precedents, this comprehensive study assesses the legal and sovereign rights of the United Arab Emirates over the three islands. The study is based on extensive research in both primary and secondary sources: declassified British and US archival records and original historical documents, relevant legal studies, memoirs, interviews with key players and analyses by political commentators. In addressing the complexities of the dispute, the book offers fresh insight on the historical, political, legal, regional and international dimensions of the islands issue for the benefit of policy-makers, academics, researchers and decision-makers concerned with the future security and stability of the Gulf region.

This book magnifies only one instance of Iran’s geopolitical role in the Persian Gulf in the interim period between the British withdrawal of forces from, and the American arrival in that region. Two centuries of Pax-Britannica was the period of territorial organization of the region, which resulted in the creation of a number of small states or emirates defining territories and boundaries for which caused huge territorial complications with the older states of the region. Pax-Britannica was removed at the end of 1971 without settling these difficult issues. Yet, immediately after their departure from the Persian Gulf, Iran began the initiative of settling territorial differences among the littoral states. Negotiations for the delimitation of maritime boundaries in the Persian Gulf which started in 1968 with Saudi Arabia continued with each and every Arab state of the region and by the mid-1970s all maritime boundaries of Iran with her Arab neighbours were settled, including legal settlement of the issue of the islands extensively examined in this book. In 1975, the age-old Iran-Iraq territorial and boundary disputes were settled in Shatt al Arab, and in the same year Iran's initiative of settling territorial disputes went beyond the region of the Persian Gulf and the Shah quelled the fire of separatist movements in Dhufar of Oman as well as intervening in Egyptian Israeli disputes and settle their differences over the Sinai Peninsula. Israeli author, Samuel Segev admits in his 1981 publications on Israeli secret relations in the Middle East that "The Shah was the originator of the idea to mediate between Anwar Sadat and Golda Meir." Another instance of the Iranian endeavour to safeguard Arab territorial integrity was Iran's undertaking in eradication of threats to Oman's territorial integrity in the early 1970s. Within three years Iranian soldiers defended with their lives Oman's territorial integrity in Dhufar Province in the face of a fierce communist separatist movement that British forces could not eradicate in twelve years.

This book is a follow-up volume to the acclaimed The Persian Gulf at the Millennium: Essays in Politics, Economy, Security and Religion , published by St. Martin's Press in 1997. The same editors, who direct the Gulf/2000 Project at Columbia University, have assembled a number of leading experts on the Persian Gulf to reflect on factors affecting security there in the twenty-first century. Most contributors are from the region itself and for the first time share the results of ongoing research with an outside audience. The chapters profile the diverse society in the Gulf and the historical pattern of Gulf security, before focusing on current security concerns between Iran and the Arab states. They explore the mutual perceptions of the peoples of the Gulf today and the role of the new generation in shaping its future.